Angela CarterÆs (1977) The Company of Wolves is a short story that parallels the age old story of Little Red Riding Hood. A tale of innocence threatened by the darker forces of nature, Little Red Riding Hood revolves around a duplicitous wolf who attempts to eat an innocent little girl bringing a basket of goodies to her ill grandmother. CarterÆs use of Little Red Riding Hood is purposive in that she uses the story of cunning carnivore against innocent girl to illustrate her views on gender relations. In The Company of Wolves, the wolves are powerful and cunning symbols for the predatory male, while the ôflaxen-haired girlö represents the innocent, vulnerable and virginal female (Carter, 1977, p. 314). By using these symbols based on Little Red Riding Hood, Carter attempts to demonstrate the often unequal power relations involved in male and female sexuality.
To reinforce her theme that young girls are like innocent and vulnerable prey to more powerful, cunning and lustful males, Carter carefully chooses her adjectives to describe the wolves and the girl in The Company of Wolves. We are told that the wolves are ôcarnivore incarnate,ö ôcunning,ö ôferocious,ö and ôassassinsö of the forest (Carter, 1977, p. 312). Above all, the wolf is portrayed as someone not to be trusted in all its incarnations. For the wolf can appear as handsome, soothing man or as voracious, murderous beast. As we are told by the author, ôFear and flee the wolf; for, worst of all, the wolf may be more than he seemsö (Carter, 1977, p. 313).
Carter also uses specific word choices to depict the female in comparison to the male, or in the case of this story the wolf against its prey. For the blonde, innocent girl fearing the wild filled with danger to get aid to her sick grandmother is portrayed in sharp contrast to the wolf-male. The female girl is depicted as innocent, untouched and inviolate in her own
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